Mommy Corner: What I'm Reading

I'm prepping for delivering our next little monkey.  Monday was supposed to be my last session of my Hypnobirthing class but I was busy getting an IV...






I'm currently reading the new version of LLL's Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and I love it even more than the 7th edition.  I highly recommend it!  It's very down-to-Earth and makes a wonderful gift to an expecting mother.






I just completed (just over a week ago)







And I also highly recommend it-borrow it from the library at least if you're expecting!  I read it during my pregnancy with Monkey but didn't take the class.  I feel much more prepared this second time around and with the class under my belt.  I'll happily share my birth story after Monkey #2 (aka Baby K until he has a nickname) is born.





I also have a big list of other natural birth books I want to read or re-read.  I will post about them as I go.  I think it's very important to keep reading for YOU when you are raising little ones.  I believe it's important for them to SEE you reading and writing too so they get a sense of how important it is.  That's why I'm including this special section I'm naming "Mommy Corner" on this blog.  Here I'll post about what I'm reading and activities I do for me.  I hope you all enjoy this part of my blog-feel free to leave comments and link to what you're doing for you right now :)!  I always love ideas-I usually forget about taking care of myself (hence why my finger nails on one hand haven't been done in weeks...) and need the reminder and more ideas.

Doggies! Wednesday Tot School week 2

Monkey got to spend some time with his grandparents today!  He had a blast!  Grandma brought some fun books for him to read which we plan to talk about soon here :).  After they left we enjoyed some Butternut Squash soup I made (I found some Butternut squash at the grocery store Monday and got really excited).  While it was boiling the squash in spices and water we watched Signing Time volume 1 (First Signs).  After dinner we read a bunch and looked at our Brown Bear tot book (I'll talk about it in a bit as well as where to get the stuff!).

Books we read:
Alphatales D: Detective Dog and the Disappearing Doughnuts (see my materials we use for more info about Alphatales-you can also check out all the threads with the Alphatales tags.
Puppy Love-This was my first book that I "read" as a child (I memorized it and told the whole story almost word for word).  It's a fun story about taking care of a puppy (puppy-sitting).
101 Dalmatians-based on the Disney movie.  Fun to read the story!
Clifford Barks!  We liked this one.  Monkey had to keep yelling out "doggie" throughout the whole story
Clifford's Peekaboo-Monkey's favorite Clifford book so far (but we borrowed it from the library).  He loves to cover his eyes with his hands or a playsilk or whatever and say "Baby?" or "Buddy?" and then uncover and yell out "BOO!"  He thought it was funny that Clifford puppy played peek-a-boo.
Tails Are Not for Pulling-great book for toddlers to teach them to be gentle with animals.  I'm considering purchasing it since Monkey is at the stage that he likes to stomp on tails and poke in eyes.  He thought all the different pets were fun.  The book includes tips for parents to teach their toddlers how to be gentle with pets.
Before bed we read Adventures of Biscuit which is a bargain book from Barnes and Noble (we just barely bought it last week).  It includes 5 stories: Biscuit, Biscuit Finds A Friend, Bathtime for Biscuit, Biscuit's New Trck, and Biscuit Wants to Play.  Monkey got a TOTAL kick out of these.  He loves how Biscuit says "woof woof!" over and over.  He had to start saying woof in anticipation of me reading woof!  Biscuit is an I Can Read! My First reading level. 
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I finished the Brown Bear tot book today!  I found that rubber cement + packing tape hold things that are laminated together.  Here's where we got the materials.  We printed the color book (I colored it and we laminated it so Monkey can learn colors-it's attached with sticky back velcro in case we want to put in one for him to color.  We also put in the heads and tails matching, the ABCs (we put ours in on two seperate things rather than front to back-I will post pictures when I can).  We also included the counting one.  We didn't include the shape one because we're putting it in our shapes and colors book I'm working on.  We're making the heads and tails for the felt board also.  I also am doing the sized bears for the felt board.  Monkey thought the lapbook was fun!

For anyone interested on what's going on with ME...I got the coolest paper in the mail today (FINALLY!).  Drum roll please....my Bachelor's Degree!  When I was pregnant with Monkey I found out that if I took 21 credits my last semester and 18 the one before I could graduate and walk 2 weeks after he was born.  I ended up on bed rest a couple weeks before Spring break (maybe only a week) on (32 weeks-37 weeks) because of preterm labor.  I had two incompletes to finish after walking.  My professor for the one was great and let me finish my paper and turn it in.  My other one agreed to let me come to a summer class but wouldn't allow me to nurse my baby or have breaks to pump so I asked what we should do.  She agree to let me do a homestudy course and two weeks later came back and said never mind.  I ended up taking a class from another University that is seen as an equivalent.  After finishing that (online) I STILL had to jump through hoops but the good news is that the paper is here and it's getting framed tonight.

Oh and I started a book I want to read besides the one I'm reading to help my hubby (which by the way I really don't enjoy that book!).  Here's a link to the book: Playful Learning.  If you have a local La Leche League go buy it from your group!  Procedes go to help the group (all the mamas are volunteers-the money goes straight to the library and any rental charges or other costs the group acrues).  I got it in a swap otherwise I would have bought it from my group.  I'm starting chapter 1.  Although we've made the decision to homeschool I think it would be of benefit to read it cover to cover still.

What *I* am currently reading

I am a total book-a-holic! I am usually reading several books at once. I've been busy planning tot school so I haven't been reading as much as I would like for books but I'm starting The World is Flat to help my husband with a class. I've also been trying to get to a Tori Spelling book (Stori Telling) but haven't had the time yet (it's a library book due Friday-better get going!). I have others that are due back Friday plus an order to complete and ship by Thursday.

I think my favorite of the summer (and I've read A LOT since I finished my last class online for my Bachelor's-long story) was No Cry Discipline Solution. I recommend it to everyone regardless of their discipline ideas. It has a section on there about yelling and how to calm down/not yell. It's been very helpful for me except for the last week because my hormones are going crazy. Ever since I had my second miscarriage a few weeks ago (at about 4 weeks so a very early one) my hormones have been out of wack. I have had very little patience with my husband and son so I hope to read that section this week to help me. I've also been able to be more patient with Monkey because of Tot School because I know he's learning a ton through our daily experiences. He's easily frustrated when he can't get his body and mind to cooperate or when he simply can't get his message across. He learns more words every day though so he's getting less frusrated about not getting his message across which in turn makes me less frustrated. Life has been crazy with my husband back in school since we see him an hour per day or less (and that's generally over lunch or he's doing homework here). Once we get in to our daddy-back-in-school groove we should ALL be less frustrated and have less fights. If you haven't read the book though GO GET IT NOW! It's great and has a great series of things to do to help gear your child in to what you want them to do. It has helped us curb a biting habit (we now get lots of kisses when he's frustrated-once in a while he goes to bite but we can generally stop it) and keep away from dangerous nick-nacks at people's homes. Our Monkey is a very happy boy and generally minds us well because we don't over discipline him. This book helps you discipline how you see fit and while it generally fits in best with Attachment Parenting it is great for every parenting style. Seriously-stop reading-go buy it!!!

What are you reading these days? Any good books you've read lately?